Car-door.



No. 643,655. Patented Feb. 20, 1900. a. ,P. JONES.

' No. 643,655. Patented Feb. 20, I900. I a. P. JONES.

am: noon.

(App1icatioq. filed May 4:, 1899.)

(Nb'lllodeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GRAHAM P. JONES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE JONES OAR DOORCOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-000a.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,655, dated February20, ieoo.

Application filed May 4, 1899. Serial No. 715,632. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRAHAM P. JONES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Doors, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to car-doors, andparticularly to that class ofcar-doors which normally rest upon cam-hangers and cambrackets whichserve when the door is lowered to throw it laterally into engagementwith the side of the car to bind it firmly in place and to prevent anymovement of the door, whether the latter covers the doorway or not, andwhich are raised by suitable apparatus into operative position formovement back and forth upon the rail to cover and uncover thedoor-opening.

The object of my invention is to provide certain improvements in theoperating mechanism of the raising and lowering devices whereby thismechanism may have either a lateral movement or a straight downwardpull.

2 5 This object I accomplish as illustrated in thedrawings and ashereinafter set forth.

The invention consists of an operating mechanism or device for theraising and lowering means which may be used by the op- 0 erator toraise the door either by a lateral or vertical movement.

This invention may be applied to any form of sliding door which isarranged to be raised and lowered to and from its operative posi- 3 5tion with respect to the rail on which it travels by suitable levers orequivalent means, but is more particularly applicable to doors forfreight-cars, and for the purpose of illustration I have shown it in thedrawings applied to such purpose.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specificationsand in which like letters of reference indicate like parts in theseveral views, Figure l is a side elevation of 5 a car-door embodying myimprovements and showing the devices in position when the door is atrest. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar elevations representing the door in itsoperative position for movement and the two methods by which theoperating mechanism may be employed.

Figs. 4 and 5 are cross-sections of the doorway, the door being shown inFig. 4c in its position of rest snug against the side of the car andinFig. 5 in its position for running along the supporting-rail. Figs. 6and 7 are enlarged detail views illustrating the operating device in thepositions shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.

In the drawings the reference-letter A indicates the side of the car, Athe car-door, and a the rail adapted to receive the sheaves a, whichsupport the door when it'is moved to cover and uncover the door-opening.A cam bracket a of the structure and character fully shown in Figs. 4and 5, is provided at the lower right-hand corner of the door-openingupon its run side, upon which the door rests when lowered and whichforces the door laterally against the side of the car to prev vent itsmovement. At the lower left-hand 7o corner of the doorway asupporting-bracket a is located, which may or may not be similar to thecam-bracket a and upon which the door rests in part when closed over thedooropening.

The sheaves a are journaled in the raising and lowering levers a, whichare pivoted at their opposite ends to cam-hangers a secured at the uppercorners of the door and extending inwardly over the rail. These hangersare provided with cam-faces a, which operate in conjunction with therail to force the door laterally'against the car-body as it is loweredto its normal position, the rail of course being held away from the sideof the car, so as to leave room for the free movement of the overhangingportions of the hangers, all as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The inner ends of the levers a are slotted and are connected by a boltwhich passes through these slots to the connecting-rod B of theoperating mechanism, which extends downwardly close to the outer face ofthe door, preferably in its central line to about the middle of thedoor, and which constitutes the 5 upper part of the operating device ofthe raising and lowering levers. The lower part of this operating deviceis composed of an operating or lower rod B, which also extendsdownwardly nearly to the bottom of the door in continuation of the upperrod. The rod B is provided with a handle I) at its upper and lower endsand passes freely through a bracket 0, which is located at about itscenter and secured to the door in properly-adjusted position by means ofbolts passing through elongated slots in its ends. The bracket isprovided with an upwardly-expanding passage c for the rod B, asclearlyshown in Figs. (5 and 7, the width of the passage at its lower orsmaller end being somewhat greater than the width of the rod. The rod13' is provided with a plate I) in proximity to the lower edge of thebracket,which is preferably of the form shown in the drawings, beingrigid on the rod and slightly greater in width.

The door normally rests upon the camhangers a and upon one or both ofthe brackets a a according as it is in position over the doorway or toone side thereof, the raising and lowering levers and the operatingdevice therefor then being in the positions indicated in Fig. 1 and theweight of the door being OK the sheaves, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.\Vhen it is desired to move the door laterally to cover or uncover thedoor-opening, the operator may raise it to its operative or slidingposition upon the sheaves either bya direct downward pull upon either ofthe handles b or by a lateral movement of either of these handles. Ifthe operator drawsthe handle vertically downward or exerts a directdownward pull, the parts will assume the positions shown in Figs. 3 and7, the rod B passing freely through the bracket G. hen the operatorexercises a lateral pressure or strain on either of the handles, the rod13 turns upon the bracket as its fulcrum and throws the joint of therods 13 B slightly to one side, the parts then taking the positionsshown in Figs. 2 and 6. The plate b serves as a means to prevent the rodB from moving upwardly through its bracket under any accidental strainin that direction and also aids in insuring the pivoting of the rod onthe bracket. Either of these operations serves to draw downwardly theraising and lowering levers and to raise the door off its cam-hangersand brackets, the sheaves serving as fulcrums, to its operativeposition, (see Fig. 5,) in which it may he slid back and forth.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure it is apparent that myinvention embodies an organization and arrangement of parts in which thedoor maybe moved at any position it may occupy either by a pivotal or bya sliding motion of its operating device. It may be moved from itsnormal positions of rest when either closed or open or from anyintermediate position by either of these movements of its operatingdevice, and the handles of the operating device may be moved in eitherdirection, either to the right or to the left, about its pivot orfulcrum in any position of the door.

It is often desirable to employ a closing strip or cleat d on the runside of the dooropening to make a dust-proof closure. lVhen this isdone, it is necessary to provide some means to move the door laterallyor away from the side of the car as it is raised, so that the door willclear the cleat in its movements. For this purpose a wedge or incline Dis attached to the door-opening frame at the upper right-hand corner, sothat it is in the path of the door as the latter is raised and serves toforce it laterallyaway from the car, as shown in Fig. 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a sliding door,- and mechanism for moving it toand from its sliding position, of a device adapted to oper ate thelifting and lowering mechanism in any position of the door by either alateral or a sliding movement.

2. The combination with a sliding car-door, and mechanism for liftingand lowering it to and from its sliding position, of a device adapted tooperate the lifting and lowering mechanism either by a lateral movementin either direction or by a sliding movement.

3. The combination with a sliding car-door, and mechanism for moving itto and from its sliding position, of a device adapted to operate thelifting and lowering mechanism from its normal position by either apivotal or a sliding movement.

4. The combination with a sliding car-door, and mechanism for lifting itto and from its sliding position, of an operating device for saidlifting and lowering mechanism consisting of jointed rods, one of whichpasses freely through or coacts witha bracket on the door in anyposition of the door, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a sliding car-door,- and mechanism for liftingand lowering it to and from its sliding position, of a jointed operatingdevice for said mechanism, and a bracket adapted as a guide for saiddevice or as a fulcrum upon which said device may have movement ineither direction, substantially as described.

6. The combination of acar-door normally resting in a lowered positionupon brackets, levers for raising said door to its operative position,jointed operating-levers, one of which is provided with a plate, and abracket carried by the door with which said plate coacts when the leversare moved laterally, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a sliding car-door, levers pivotally connectedto the upper portion of the door, and sheaves carried by said levers, ofa track on which said sheaves run, a connecting-rod pivoted to thelevers, an opcrating-rod pivoted to the connecting-rod and provided witha plate, and a bracket through which said operating-rod freely passesand with which the plate coacts, substantially as described.

8. The combination with a sliding car-door, levers pivotally connectedto the upper portion of the door, and sheaves carried by said levers andrunning on a suitable track, of a connecting-rod pivoted to the levers,an operating-rod pivoted to the connecting-rod and having a handle, anda bracket adapted as a guide through which said latter rod may slide oras a fulcrum upon which it may turn in either direction, substantiallyas described.

9. The combination with a sliding car-door, and mechanism for liftingand lowering it to and from its sliding position, of an operating devicefor said lifting and lowering mechanism adapted for downward movementthrough a guide on the door or for lateral movement in either directionupon said guide.

